Intellectual property cooperation among Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - collectively known as BRICS - has achieved sustained progress over the past few years and is playing an increasingly important role in the world's IP landscape, according to officials.

The comments were made at a recent meeting of representatives of the five major emerging economies in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

The IP authorities of the five countries have cooperated in training, information services, application processing, IP strategies for small and mid-sized businesses, as well as holding international forums, said Shen Changyu, commissioner of China's State Intellectual Property Office, at the 10th Heads Meeting of BRICS IP Offices on Monday.

Established in 2013, the cooperation mechanism of the BRICS IP offices is "having greater influence on the world IP field", Shen said.

Om Prakash Gupta, controller general of patents, designs and trademarks in India, said at the meeting that multilateral cooperation is even more important in today's world, leading to significant achievements that are "to a larger benefit of all the developed, developing and the least developed countries".

All the BRICS countries are promoting innovation-driven development strategies, such as the Technological Innovation Act in Brazil, the Innovation Strategy 2020 in Russia, the Decade of Innovations 2010-20 Roadmap in India and the Research Infrastructure Roadmap in South Africa.

The heads of the five offices have agreed on a number of objectives for future cooperation, including promoting IP development in their respective countries, providing better services to IP users and the public, and enhancing the voice and representation of BRICS countries in the development of the global IP system, according to a joint statement unveiled at the meeting.

To achieve those objectives, the authorities will launch cooperation projects focusing on seven areas: exchanges and cooperation on IP laws; regulations and policies; capacity building to provide convenient and efficient services to the public and IP users; exchanges and cooperation on enhancing public IP awareness; IP education; sharing and utilization of IP information; coordination at international IP forums; and strengthening the BRICS cooperation mechanism.

Grigory Ivliev, director general of Russia's Federal Service for Intellectual Property, said that each of the BRICS members has its strengths in the cooperation framework. For example, China is doing well in information sharing and service, while Russia is taking the lead in personnel training and exchanges.

The BRICS cooperation mechanism is closely connected to and encouraged by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

"Multilateral platforms among the BRICS members could be complementary to each other, contributing to the same objective of promoting sustainable development in the world," said Wang Binying, deputy director general of WIPO.

The BRICS economies, representing 42 percent of the global population and 26 percent of the world GDP, "enjoy a lot of commodities and shared aspiration, despite their different focuses based on their national situation", Wang added.(Source: China Daily)

Key moments

October 2012

BRICS IP heads meet at the WIPO General Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the possibility of a regular meeting mechanism.

May 2013

The first Heads Meeting of BRICS IP Offices is held in Johannesburg, South Africa, where seven areas of cooperation are decided. India did not participate.

September 2013

The second BRICS IP meeting is held in Geneva to add India into the partnership.

September 2014

The third BRICS IP meeting is held in Geneva to review the achievements made since the prior meeting.

June 2015

At the fourth BRICS IP meeting, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, six areas of cooperation are decided.

September 2015

The fifth BRICS IP meeting is held in Geneva, where Russia proposes annual training and exchange programs and China suggests an expert meeting ahead of each BRICS IP meeting.

June 2016

A total of six major projects are passed at the sixth BRICS IP meeting, held in Moscow.

October 2016

The seventh BRICS IP meeting is held in Geneva, where participants decide to continue patent examiner exchanges, launch seminars for small and medium-sized businesses and online training.

April 2017

The eighth BRICS IP meeting is held in New Delhi, India, where participants decide to launch a website for their cooperation.

October 2017

The ninth BRICS IP meeting is held in Geneva to discuss hot topics related to IP.

March 2018

The 10th BRICS IP meeting is held in Chengdu, Sichuan province in Southwest China.